Original article is here (paywalled 😑). Not sure how far to take these results with such a tiny N but interesting if it can be replicated with a larger sample size. It looks like they initially hypothesized that HRT had caused the changes but ended up rejecting that idea in favor of it being the voice training.
There’s a wealth of misinformation out there about vocal feminization surgery. I am currently in the planning stages of getting mine. The general view that it is somehow more risky than other surgeries does real harm to people like me trying to access them.
I honestly would’ve pursued it years ago if people hadn’t had me convinced it’s 50/50 you never speak again or something like that. Vocal chord surgery is common, it’s a very routine form of plastic surgery that is practices on cisgender and transgender people all around the world. Vocal feminization is a very precise safe procedure when done in the hands of a competent glottoplasty surgeon. It has complications as any surgery does. It’s certainly not anymore risky than breast augmentation or reassignment surgery is.
The majority of transgender women report dissatisfaction with their voice. Training is not something that is easily readily doable for everyone. I’ve been at it for 8 years with professional help and my voice passes about as often as it did 5 months in. It’s really only other queer people who gender my voice correctly. Vocal feminization surgery should be much more widely discussed in our community. Vocal masculinization is often a hugely celebrated / anticipated effect of T in trans masc communities. Like we know that how your voice is gendered has a massive effect on your quality of life. We do not have that our voices are literally unaffected by estrogen, and under most insurance plans Vocal feminization is considered an optional surgery. Misinformation is part of the reason why it’s viewed as optional, and part of the reason that so many who have voice dissatisfaction even after training are never even told that it’s an option.